Drum Machines

Marco Alpert has had a fascinating career in the music industry and lucky for the NAMM Oral History collection he shared many of his stories with us. Marco was an electronic music composer in Los Angeles when he happened to meet the two founders of E-mu. Marco was hired to promote the innovative synthesizers that Dave Rossum and Scott Wedge were creating for E-mu. Marco was later involved with other amazing products and companies working on several of the most influential musical products during the last 30 years.  

Billy Amendola is the Editor At Large for Modern Drummer magazine whose background as a musician makes him perfect for the job! His passion for music began at an early age and by the time he began working for the magazine in 1997, Billy was already a seasoned studio musician and founding member of the band Mantus. Ron Spangnardi, the founder of Modern Drummer, first hired Billy to help with his drum festival in 1990.

Avery Burdette, the product manager for Yamaha Corporation of America, began his long love of music pushing down the pedals of his mother's organ as a small child while his mother played. Avery played trombone in school bands before forming a Southern-Rock style group in high school. He also worked in music retail before joining Yamaha in 1987. During his years with Yamaha he took part in the launching of several innovative products and witnessed first hand the company’s growth and development into newer product fields. Avery was able to provide our collection with first hand insi

Larry Dalton started playing drums at a young age after seeing The Beatles on TV. His love for music stayed with him, and he began playing in multiple bands and went on many tours in Europe, Canada, and the United States. Larry then went on to get heavily involved with drum machines, programming for the likes of Aerosmith, Van Halen, and The Cars. After that, he found himself working in Artist Relations for Fishman for over 13 years.

Jimi (Chopmaster J) Dright was surrounded by music growing up in Berkely, California. Sly Stone lived in his same fourplex, Tower of Power practiced in their garage and music promoter Herb Wong had a regular program on KJAZ that Jimmy never missed. He started playing drums at a young age and took lessons every chance he could, even attending music camp. As Hip Hop was developing, Jimmy was right there to add his own flavor to the emerging style and soon he met others involved with the same music like Shock G and Kenny-K Waters, forming Digital Underground and becoming the first We

Ikutaro Kakehashi, the founder of Roland Corporation, created more than a successful business with a host of important innovations in electronic musical instruments; he has also paid tribute throughout his career to those who first inspired him. Mr. Kakehashi was born in Japan and formed Ace Electronics in 1964 with the goal of improving the electronic organ, following up on the work of his heroes, Mr. Hammond and Mr. Leslie. With the expansion of electronics in the late 1960s, he formed the Roland Corporation, which soon became one of the leaders in the industry. Perhaps the only

Denis Labrecque formed DeLab Consulting in 2015 after a series of positions in the synthesizer, computer music and digital signal processing fields. It all began with learning analog modular synthesis at Electronic Music Laboratories (EML), then working with the team from there that became Star Instruments, producing the famed Synare 3 electronic drum. His growing knowledge and interest in personal computers led him to be part of key developments for Passport Designs (MasterTracks Pro, Encore) at the dawn and the expansion of MIDI technology.

Keith LeBlanc was one of the first drummers who used his funk music background to create beats that helped popularize hip-hop music. Keith was there in the beginning and while working for Sugar Hill Records worked with many of the pioneers of hip-hop including The Sugar Hill Gang, Grandmaster Flash and Force MDs. Early into his studio career, Keith also began producing records resulting in the albums Stranger Than Fiction and Malcolm X: No Sell Out among others. His riffs have been sampled for hit records by dozens of artists over the years and his style is often referenced by dru

Roger Linn forever changed the way people dance! As the inventor of the electronic Linn drum machine, he ushered in the new wave of electronic dance music beginning in the 1980s. The Linn drum machine also brought new meaning to the term “re-mix” and opened up a new era of sampling for club dj’s around the world. Roger worked closely with David Smith and others in the early efforts of MIDI in the 1980s. Roger has since created a host of successful products, including the AdrenaLinn guitar synth, which uses modern technology to bring some of his early concepts into the digital age.

Jun-Ichi Miki joined the Roland Corporation in 1977 right after graduating from university. After working in research of sound synthesis and analysis for electronic musical instruments, in 1994 he joined the Board of Directors. In 2013, Jun-ichi was named Roland’s new CEO and his background in Research and Development helps Roland remain on the cutting edge of product design. During his oral history interview at the 2018 NAMM Show, Jun-Ichi discusses the development and role of MIDI within Roland and the music products industry.

Anthony Resta is a gold and multi-platinum awarded producer-composer/multi-instrumentalist. His past clients include Duran Duran, Elton John, Collective Soul, Perry Ferrell, Guster, Needtobreathe, Shawn Mullins, and many others. Anthony has always had an eye for art and a love of music. From age seven on, he has studied and played drums, guitar, piano, and flute. Without really realizing it, Anthony fell into sound design as early as the mid 1980s, when he learned to program the LINN Drum Machine and began producing records.

James Sajeva is the Senior Brand Manager for KORG USA, a firm he has worked for since 1996. His passion and love of music began at a young age and throughout his youth KORG instruments were a part of his musical development. While working for a Sam Ash store, James was approached by a KORG rep about joining the company. His dream job ensued. Already knowing a great deal about the product line, he started as a support technician and was later promoted to managing that same department. With his role in brand management, James enjoys working with several departments within the compan

Bongo Bob Smith has had an amazing musical journey, which all began with his love of the music of Puerto Rico. Before the term World Music was used, Bob was exploring music from many countries and regions, especially Latin Jazz.  Along the way he began collecting percussive instruments from around the World, learning as much as he could about the instruments' origins. Always looking for new sounds and creating so many on his own, Bob found great success in his pursuit during the early days of the synthesizer boom. He embraced the drum machine right away, which created a demand for

Scott Wedge and Dave Rossum attended college together and soon developed a few clever ways of combining their engineering training with their passion for music. They began creating sound controllers for the boom of synthesizers hitting the market in the 1970s. While supplying a growing number of electronic instrument companies in the San Francisco Bay Area, they decided to form their own company, E-mu. E-mu has been described as one of the cornerstone organizations that pioneered a number of products critical to the growth of electronic musical instruments – a list much too long f